


Family is everything

by itwasred



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s07e13 Star City Slayer, F/M, Queen Family, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-28 07:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17783159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itwasred/pseuds/itwasred
Summary: Family is everything. But sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the ones you love.A little fluff piece to fill in and slightly alter the scenes of 7x13.





	1. The threat

**Author's Note:**

> Wowow so this episode really got me. I think it was the intense terror of the Queen fam being immobilized by Stanley while going through such a fundamental family issue. I’ve really missed that about Arrow, when the action/bad guy was so tied to the drama and emotional development of the characters. Diaz did not accomplish that for me. Anyways I have a lot of thoughts so I wrote some scene fixes to fill in the episode. Well just this one is written, the others are outlines. But I had to get this posted now. I have no chill when it comes to waiting lol.
> 
> Also a quick note that is completely unimportant to the fic - when I say family is everything I mean family in whatever definition works for you. Blood relatives, partners, chosen family, pets, anything that gives you that sense of belonging and love. I only say this because the family we are born into isn’t necessarily healthy or loving and I hate the idea that we should feel some type of obligation to a family that doesn’t bring us love. Sorry quick soapbox. Now back to your regularly scheduled Arrow fanfic…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Extension and fill in of the scene where William’s grandparents show up and tell Oliver they are filing a suit for guardianship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oliver defending Felicity as William’s mother so vehemently gave me chills. The look Felicity gives him in response, double chills. Ugh I just wished the writers would give us more! So here is my attempt at more.
> 
> All dialogue from the show is borrowed and is not mine! The grammar mistakes are all mine though.

“We’re taking him with us.”

Oliver saw William shift uncomfortably next to him, but all he could hear was ringing in his ears. This couldn’t be happening. He was finally home. William was home. He and Felicity were on the same page. He was out and working with the police. This wasn’t something he had anticipated.

“We’re filing a suit for guardianship.” Oliver’s mouth hung open, his breath catching in his chest.

“No you can’t do that!” Felicity exclaimed. Her voice was wild. She flashed to their time in Hope Springs. All the pain the two of them went through together, being without Oliver. The worst fear she had ever experienced when Diaz found them. The heartbreaking decision she had made to send William away to keep him safe. No one was taking her son from her.

Mrs. Clayton’s face was set, her claim of guardianship clearly not baseless. Oliver took a deep breath and tried to get a handle on the situation.

“William, we need to speak to your grandparents alone.”

William left for his room, leaving the four of them in silence. Oliver shifted closer to Felicity, his hand covering hers on the countertop. He looked down and saw her ring. A symbol of their love and the family that they were.

“Oliver, it’s an open-and-shut case. You’re a convicted felon. You were absent for most of his life, and then once you showed up he’s kidnapped. He’s sent into hiding from a mob boss.” 

Frank Clayton was stating facts. Facts that haunted Oliver everyday and made him question his fitness for fatherhood. Felicity’s other hand reached over to hold Oliver’s between both of hers. She tried her hardest to pour her love into him, trying to convey all the reassurance she had given him in the past. Trying to remind him all of the times she had stopped him from blaming himself, to assure him that he was a loving father.

“I’m his father Frank.” Felicity squeezed his hand. Oliver set his shoulders back, ready to fight for their son.

“By blood maybe, but you are not fit to be Williams’ guardian.” Oliver’s gaze shifted to William’s grandmother, seeing the conviction in her eyes. Her words cut through him. “Either of you.”

Oliver’s expression changed the second Mrs. Clayton addressed his wife. The idea that Felicity was not fit to be William’s guardian was outrageous. Felicity was completed devoted to their son. She had kept him safe when Oliver failed. She gave everything to a child that wasn’t physically hers. A boy that he had hid from her. Felicity was a loving mother, the accusation that she was an unfit guardian set Oliver’s blood on fire.

“We should have done this a long time ago. It’s what Samatha would have wanted.”

Anger boiled through Oliver’s veins. Gone was his calm demeanor. Calling him out on his shortcomings was valid, but pointing fingers at Felicity was abhorrent. No one was going to take their son from them.

“William is my son,” his voice boomed across their kitchen. “Felicity treats and cares for him like a **son**!” Felicity glanced over to him at the declaration. Her devastation lifted a tiny bit at the conviction in Oliver’s voice. “And nobody is going to take him away from us. No one!”

Felicity’s heart was pounding against her chest. The fear of losing William, coupled with the protectiveness she was feeling of both her son and husband, was causing her hands to shake. She saw Oliver’s set jaw, the force of his clenching causing the muscles in his temple to twitch. She knew how upset he was. But she also knew that William’s grandparents only wanted the best for him.

Taking a deep breath, Felicity tried to settle the tension in the room. “Mr. and Mrs. Clayton we understand that you only want what is best for William. We want that too. If you would be so kind as to give us some time to discuss this amongst our family we would greatly appreciate it. If you need a place to stay for the evening I can set you up in a hotel not that far from here.”

Mrs. Clayton looked like she was about to protest but her husband gave Felicity an understanding nod. “We already have a room, thank you. We expect a call in the morning or we will just come back here again.”

“Understood.”

Oliver kept his eyes downcast as Felicity ushered the Claytons out of their home. His anger was getting the best of him, something he promised himself would never happen around his family. But he was being threatened. His life was being threatened. His life that deep down he still thought he didn’t deserve. Deep down he always knew it was temporary. Knew that someone or something would take away what he never deserved in the first place.

He hadn’t realized that his breathing had gotten shallower and quicker until he felt a warm hand on his chest. He looked up to the shining eyes of his wife. “I’m right here Oliver. Deep breaths for me, okay?”

His eyes remained locked with hers as he complied, his breaths beginning to match hers. Felicity stepped farther into his space, curling her hands around his neck and massaging the tense muscles there. Oliver dropped his forehead to hers and let out a deep sigh.

“I can’t lose my family Felicity.”

His whispered words broke her heart. She knew that his closed off demeanor recently was partly due to the Emiko revelation, but also due to his relationship with William. Seeing Oliver be a loving father was so incredible. The way he was in their home, like he didn’t have the weight of all of his past traumas crushing him, was something she savored and never wanted Oliver to lose.

“You won’t.” He nodded but his eyes betrayed him, his self-doubt and guilt obvious to her. “I love you and William loves you. You will never _ever_ lose that.”

His hands went to her hips, reverently touching her. She knew he needed more than that. She squared her shoulders and pushed down the negative emotions clawing at her throat, focusing on reassuring her husband. He looked lost and she knew he needed a Felicity talk bad right now.

“Oliver, you are such a loving husband and father. You give so much to your family and you deserve to feel that love back. I’m so so sorry that you are haunted by the ghosts of your family, but you are not your mother or your father. You have gone through the worst kind of hell and you still have the most incredible capacity for love. This situation is difficult but it in no way diminishes the love in this family. It’s not your fault that we live in a dangerous city. It’s you who works to make it better. You are never going to make the perfect decisions in life, but trust me even if I or William don’t agree with them we know that you are doing it from a place of love. Well William may have a hard time with understanding that now because he is a kid. He doesn’t know you like I do. But he will understand if you talk to him. Just take the time to hear what has to say. I know you can get stuck in this protective mindset of yours and that asking those around you what they need, as opposed to making that decision for them, is hard for you. But you and I have talked about this. And I know that you have grown.” She paused to stroke his jaw, forcing him to hold her gaze. “We love you Oliver Queen, and you deserve that love.”

A smile tugged at the edges of his lips, his hands squeezing her hips. “It’s really hard sometimes to remind myself why I deserve you Felicity.”

“Well that chili and these arms are definite pluses for you,” she joked, pushing her hands into his jacket to cup her shoulders.

“Mmm,” he nodded. “You really give the best talks.”

“Oh I know.”

“And so humble.”

“Go talk to you son, I’ll be right in the other room if you need me.”

“I love you Felicity.”

“I love you too Oliver.”


	2. The talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity talks to Oliver after his failed talk with William.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally understand Oliver getting angry because he is losing control, but I wish the writers would’ve showed all the progress he’s made on that front. It’s like he makes progress just for a big scene (love declaration in the Flash suit) then reverts back to grrOliver other times. Which I get, progress is not linear, but this is how I would’ve wanted this scene to go. Wishful fluff ahead!

“That isn't a normal life! I want to go live with my grandparents!”

Felicity cringed at William’s raised voice. She was hiding out in their bedroom, trying to give Oliver the space with his son since William’s issues seemed to stem around him. But she was regretting that decision. They should’ve done this together, talked as a family. Even though Felicity saw William as her son, she still had a hard time knowing when to step in on things like these.

Part of it was self-doubt. Felicity was still a little shook up from hearing Mrs. Clayton call her an unfit guardian. But maybe she was. Or maybe she just was in this environment. They could go to Ivy Town. Start up again there with William. That would be a normal life. But she knew that Oliver and her mission was in the city. Star City was their home and they both just wanted to make it a better place. Did that make them bad parents for putting their mission ahead of their child’s desire for a normal life?

But William wasn’t asking them to move. He was smart enough to know that the Green Arrow being out took that possibility away from them. That no where would be completely safe. He was asking to move away from them. That really hit Felicity hard in the gut. She agonized over sending him away after Diaz found them in the safehouse, and even then he didn’t want to go. Now we was demanding to leave them. Was that her fault for sending him away in the first place?

Her inner-ramblings were interrupted by the violent sound of pots and pans from the kitchen. Knowing that Oliver needed her, she decided that her inner conversation needed to make its way to him.

Felicity walked into the kitchen to a very upset Oliver, not at all like the calm Oliver she had just left. “I take it by the way that you're treating the chili that your talk didn't go so well.”

“He wants to go live with his grandparents.”

“And you think that’s…”

“I think it’s ridiculous because we’re his family and we are what’s best for him!” Felicity’s eyes cast downwards at his raised voice, her reaction only adding to the shame Oliver felt in not being able to keep his family healthy and happy. “Sorry.”

“Well, we’ve all grown and changed a lot since you got out of Slabside,” she began, trying to go about this in the most non-accusatory way possible. “And I’ve been thinking that maybe you and I need to think more about what William needs.”

Oliver kept his gaze on the counter, unwilling to look his wife in the eye. “You need to tell me if you honestly believe that he would be better off away from us.”

Felicity’s heart broke at the tone of his voice. Even after everything they had just discussed, she knew he would always have the thought in the back of his mind that he didn’t deserve his family. “I think that now that you're working with the SCPD and Team Arrow again that we don't exactly provide a life of normalcy and-”

“I just want to be a better father for him than my father was for me.”

“You already are by giving him the life that he deserves. Even if it breaks our hearts.”

Oliver’s eyes finally met Felicity’s. The anger that was overflowing just minutes before was not present, only sadness. “Oh Oliver.” Felicity stepped into his space to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him into a hug. He collapsed against her, letting his head fall against her shoulder. “You are his father and his hero. He will always love you. But he deserves to live a normal life if that’s what he wants.”

A deep sigh blew across her neck as warm hands spanned her back, pulling her in close. “I wish we could give him normal.”

“I know sweetheart, but we can’t.”

Oliver pulled away, shame written all over his face. “All because I came out as the Green Arrow.”

“No,” Felicity started but the look Oliver gave her made her pause. “Well yes, at the moment that is the issue. But no Oliver, you know that this whole thing started when you got on the boat and got stranded on Lian Yu. And that was no fault of yours whatsoever. That was because of other selfish men who made their problems yours.”

“Well yes but-”

“No buts! The choices you have made have lead us here and yes they all were not the best, but they happened and we can’t change them. But you have always made your decisions to help others Oliver, and this will not be any different.”

He let Felicity finish and tried to absorb what she was saying. His family would be in danger regardless of whether or not his identity was common knowledge, past experiences had proved that. And the fact that criminals were coming after him and his family was only because he was trying to serve justice. Such a vendetta could come to any cop just the same as him. But even if everything she was saying was true...how could they be a family with William gone?

“What if he ends up resenting us for not being what he needs?” Oliver shuddered as he spoke his fear aloud.

“Don’t you think I had that same thought when I sent William to London in the first place? Every parenting decision can have a million what ifs. But our son is old enough to know what he needs. And I think if we can all sit together and calmly discuss this we can come to an understanding. One which includes lots of skype and frequent visits. And the Clayton’s installing my security system. Which I can remotely monitor.”

Oliver chuckled at the level of detail Felicity was already thinking in. She was always focused on the future, and he loved her for it. She helped him out the shadows of his past to see what is right in front of him.

“I think that sounds like a good idea.”

“Good well then you finish making your world peace chili and hopefully our moody teen will have brooded enough before dinner to have this conversation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying the fleshing out of the scenes from the show with a little more emotional conversations and fluff. The next chapter I am going to post is the Stanley attack scene, I am going to use a lot less of the show’s dialogue and make it more of their reactions and silent plans they made together. I have drafts from both Oliver and Felicity’s POV, not sure what I am going to do with that yet.


End file.
